Planting Flowers Stopped After 20 Minutes

I underestimated the heat yesterday, forgetting just how hot these 'dog days' get and for how long. I was willing to wait until 9:30pm for it to cool down for a 2nd walk of the day ... but it never happened. The hounds seemed satisfied sleeping in air conditioned air even past that 10pm hour.

So this morning the daily routine changed a little. It didn't help that I slept a little later than planned but being retired I can do that and do on occasion. To get started as early as possible we went for the walk this morning before coffee was made. That's a drastic change from the norm.

With the temps at 86° at 8:23am, and Wunderground telling me today would be hotter than yesterday (how could it?), it was still hot and muggy when we started in a lot of shade. Stella showed a little extra energy but I was to find out later it was only to get the walk finished as soon as possible.

I knew that when I caught her trotting and not stopping for her daily natural protein supplement in the field that she was serious about making this one of the fastest walks in her history.

As we walked I thought of my plans for today. The first thing before anything else was considered .. make coffee ... drink coffee. With my mind scrambling with landscaping ideas that I had not planned on, I am moving what I bought around to different locations. I am looking on the internet to see how big these new plants get ... so I might only rake the new top soil into the clay dirt while filling in the three holes where root balls once were.

Even that might not get finished today. If I can wait until Monday, the temps will drop about 10° and make it bearable enough to work outside. Now that I have bought a few plants the mystery and confusion in my mind is over where to put them. How much, where and how to work around the side walk of stepping stones to the porch.

Granted this is a very poor time to be not only planting new plants/flowers but also a very poor time to be looking to buy new plants/flowers. The landscaping biz that is full of people and not enough parking spots in the spring was vacant as I parked yesterday to see what I could round up.

It's so late in the season that all perennials are 50% off with the annuals being not only small but free. There is still enough life left in them they can bloom for the rest of the summer. From Google Images it looks like the 8 different plants I bought can grow fairly large so that also makes me hesitant where to put them.

I want to use the  four Azalea Hot Shots (red) as end pieces. Right now I am thinking at the two corners of the house, one on just on the left side of the porch and the last one I am not sure. I don't want to block the porch steps this time, nor do I want to block that big vent in foundation that works with the crawlspace.

Also this time of year, they did not have a lot to work with. All of their greenhouses were empty, not to be filled again until next spring. They had some 'Happy Returns' Daylily, so I picked up a couple that will be bright yellow eventually. They had a small amount of 'Purple de Oro' Daylily's available so I picked up a couple of them ... while not knowing yet where I will plant them.

Here are some photos from our Friday morning walk that I forgot I had until late last night. I remembered them as I was doing my daily uploads into Google Photos and Flickr late last night. They were taken with the Nikon D3200 but my 2 hours of outside work and using the iPhone camera yesterday caused a lapse of memory that I had these photos.

I asked about boxwood hedges for the front of the carport but they were not in stock until next spring. It was suggested that Hostas would be nice and the pictures were fantastic showing me what they would look like but they were also out of stock at the local biz. The mature sizes of hydrangeas and rhododendrons make me hesitate on those.

They are are a few days away from some bright yellow mums, so I'll get some of those to fill two of the large pots I have from when I bought their mums previously. I am thinking if I let these flowers grow into the large sizes they are capable of, they could cover a lot of the exposed house under that small kitchen window. I could still put in a small stone walkway toward the porch.

I wasn't planning on doing this type of landscaping this summer. Although I still had indecision on what to do with the Yews. Recent internet searches were now saying they were deep rooted, different from what I read last winter. At least they are no longer setting 3' above my septic tank so that concern has been removed but it looks so empty now in front of the house.

Like I told the guy helping me with choices and answering my questions, the past the annuals I bought were either destroyed by hard blowing rain by thunderstorms or the heat would kill them in July and August. Maybe I can keep that from happening in the future.

I gave Stella another bath yesterday afternoon. I was hoping to see fleas on the bottom of the bathtub after she was rinsed but that didn't happen. I was curious because I was sure I was bitten by a flea the other night while sitting next to her on the couch. I sprinted for the Benadryl cream while she continued her deep sleep like nothing happened.

The field is starting to grow with more full size butterflies and more bees hovering around the purple buds.

It was still very hot and very muggy yesterday with the first half of the field in the shade. We will have a break in high temperatures in the next few days. Those mid 80's will feel like winter after what we have experienced the past week.

I'm not sure whether to post this now at 10:11am and call it a day for more blogging or save it as a draft in hopes something worthy will take place where a few more photos can be added. We will see .....

********************

As you can see, I waited to post this after the hounds had their lunch kibble. The possibility of getting more photos for this post, maybe some more commentary was cut short. I am not complaining because it's just the way it is in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana in July ... but I always add temperature and the heat index to give those readers that have never experienced this type of weather some idea of what it's like.

The temperature was quite a bit cooler than yesterday, holding at 86° but the heat index was 105° ... so the hounds were in no mood for a mid-day walk nor did Heidi want to lay in the grass and soak up some rays. They beat me to the door to get back inside.

I think this picture of Stella gives you an idea of just how miserable it is.

With my mind on my latest project and fighting all urges to hurry up and do everything today (joking), I thought I'd at least put 'punch' super elfins in a pot and match them with the 'white' super elfins. I read the back of the small plastic label telling me to plant them 12" apart ... but when it's way late in the game for a full season of grown, I just wanted to fill the pots with something of color. I'll separate them later if they have a huge growth spurt.

I had a couple of super red geraniums, for what I thought would be one pot worth but when I saw I had too many of the 'white' super elfins there was no other choice but to fix a 2nd pot. I still have one more green pot like this one to put in the bright yellow mums in a week or so.

The problem was I was planning to do just one pot plus spread two bags of top soil in the bed left of the porch. I wanted to fill some of the holes left by the root ball of the yews plus rake it in mixing it with the hard clay dirt. By the time I had emptied the two plastic bags of top soil and raked it in I was hot and wanted stop.

I did not do my first pot of flowers until after spreading the topsoil. I had been outside a total of 13 minutes and was already drenched with sweat and didn't do any really hard labor. It took me 26 minutes to do all three pots and spread 2 bags of top soil.

The cold glass of freshly made ice tea and the AC running at maximum efficiency felt like I had won the million dollar lottery.

I am pretty sure that one of the Azaleas will be planted just a little off center of the DirecTv satellite dish bracket. That way as it grows it will cover the bracket but not as far over to cover the gutter downspout. I am thinking the lilies I bought will be too big and out of control for that small space to the left of the porch.

A long time blog reader, Mary, told me this morning the lily roots will go deep and they will always return if I try to get rid of them. Maybe in front of the carport is a good place for them. That would put them out of the way of the septic tank and tall enough to hide some of the cars parked in the carport.

I still like the idea of different colored hostas used as filler between the azaleas. Maybe the more the more planting I do, I will learn more about these different plants, shrubs and flowers to the point of getting some enjoyment out of it instead of feeling like I'm pulling weeds on a hot day.

The hounds are all in a deep sleep, officially cancelling all afternoon and evening activities here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana, where hot and muggy are the norm for this time of year.

You WILL LOVE This Senior Moment ... LOL

I'll warn you now, if you are drinking something from a glass, cup or can, you might sit it down and step away. The story I will relay to you in this post MAY make you laugh so much that you are out of control ... that nothing near you will be safe. I am still trying to believe it and after 4 hours I still cannot comprehend what my eyes told me ... and my rake.

I don't know if it was the 'excitement' of the new project of replacing the Yews or anxiety over "what did I just do"?, that led me to waking up last night multiple times. Another words, the chances of me being outside in the yard starting my 'new' landscaping project at 8am ... were slime and none.

Once I did get started at 9am, Stella did not take long to show me that letting the hounds join me this morning in the yard while I worked in front yard was not a possibility. As you can see she was caught heading over to the wooded area next door. By the time the picture was taken she had heard me and was walking home.

It was a gallant try on her part. BTW, all of these photos today were taken with my iPhone 6s. I thought I'd let those few people know, that are trying to decide what phones to buy as their first smartphone.

It does NOT work well in the zoom mode. The picture of Stella in the middle of the field walking back with the storm clouds and high power tower was NOT zoomed in but normal setting.

I decided to let the hounds have the whole house to lay around in and enjoy the cool AC. It was so hot this morning and all last night. It was so hot, that at 4am during one of my many times being awake I heard the AC running which is rare for that time of day.

I remembered to put my bowl of fresh fruit on top of the fridge and out of Stella's reach. The AC on meant my bedroom windows were closed so she could not tear out anymore screens. Things seemed safe for her to stay inside without being shut up in the bedroom.

The plan for today was to rake up what was left of the Yews after they were pulled out of the ground and taken away. I wanted to get as much of them off the yard and off the flowerbed as possible.

I was guessing that I only had a couple of hours to get this done before the blasting hot sunshine would be on this side (west) of the house. I had only three small piles of Yew branches that I raked up in the yard. All the dirt that had been drug to the yard would be moved back into the bed areas.

Okay ... make sure that drink is out of arms reach !!!

As I was raking the dirt back into the holes were the Yew root ball was, I thought my rake had pulled up some of that black landscaping ground cover I had installed 5-6 years ago to prevent the weeds growing. It was something else ... I COULD NOT BELIEVE WHAT IT WAS BUT I WAS THRILLED WITH WHAT I FOUND !!

It was one of two of my missing favorite socks that I had been looking for since March!! I remembered folding them up after taking them out of the dryer months ago and putting them in my dresser drawer of socks. I DO REMEMBER DOING THAT ... one time. 

I couldn't find them when I went back to wear them months ago. It drove me insane trying to remember where they could have been. I pulled every sock out of that draw to see if they had been mixed with dress socks. I even moved the chest of drawers in case the hounds had hid them under the chest. They were nowhere.

Since I had found one in the dirt where they Yews had been pulled from the ground I was hoping the second one was in that same area and had not been taken away yesterday. Could the second sock be stuck on one of the Yews that was taken away?

I lightly ran my rake through the loose clay dirt no longer trying to separate the Yew leaves(?) but to see if I could find that second sock. Then .... there it was. Buried in a pile of dirt because at first Ted used his backhoe to dig out the Yew instead of just pulling them out like he did the last three.

After 4 months of looking, then wondering what ever happened to those socks that I KNEW were in my drawer of socks. Who would have ever imagined having the Yews taken out and away when you thought the request was canceled ... would lead to finding the missing socks, gone for 4 months ????  I'd laugh but I am too amazed about this story.

At 65 years old we  keep telling our friends "I feel great", remind each other that 60 is the new 40 and we really won't be old until we are in our 80's. We may not recover from physical activity as fast as we use to but our minds are as sharp an the edge of a razor blade.

Then a story like that happens and you fall back to reality to see that you really aren't like you use to be.  LOL

With the Yews out of the way I could now open that window that is the entry to my crawl space. It's one where you can almost stand up under the whole house ... there is quite a hole under there. It came with a framed window that you could open to a screen so ventilation would take place in the summer.

That took only one tv cable installer to break not only the glass but the frame as he tried to get under the house to run cable years ago. I replaced the broken window with a solid piece of wood and that heavy stone to block it closed ... to keep the cats out and any other animals ... like skunks.

This vent was open but only about an inch. I don't know where the locking lever went to so with a fresh new Yew root, I could prop open the vent until I can repair it.

Here are a couple of more pictures to show just how thick the root of the Yews got. They were not deep rooted but some of these thicker ones are deeper than I can pull out. I cut them off as low as possible with the pruning shears. Ted told me they would eventually rot away.

All the recent activity must have uprooted this toad's home. He or she sat and looked at me with displeasure while I sat down drinking water and taking a break. I could remind myself just how hot it really was at 10am. Later the toad turned around facing the nice raked cleaned dirt ... and disappeared.

After looking through all the suggestions I received last night and this morning for what plants or shrubs to use to fill up these beds and cover some of my house ... I have different ideas I need to sort out. This might take a couple of weeks to complete.

While clearing this area I was thinking that an Azalea in front of the DirecTv dish might be good. They grow to only 3' high and that would hide the bracket for the dish. I might go three across but I really don't want to block the way to get under the house, so flowers such as hostas might work well there.

I am going to fill these three holes with top soil, then rake and mix it in with the light brown clay in hopes of softening up some dirt for flowers to grow. I will also be changing those downspout drains to extend out over the edging.

It was just about 11am when I noticed my shade was about to be burnt off by the hot mid-day sunshine. It was 88° in the shade and I had no plans to work after this. I just wanted to get both areas cleaned up, raked and all the dirt moved from the yard back into the flowerbeds.

Over the years I cannot ever remember having a whole baseball cap soaked with sweat. This isn't completely drenched but it's close.

To give myself a 'redemption' test ... I laid my two socks on the edge of the carport so the afternoon sun could dry them out since I washed them. MOST LIKELY this is the same spot I put them back in March after doing the yard work on the corner bank in back of the house.

OBVIOUSLY I forgot I put them out there to dry ... the storm with high winds only 5 days later probably blew the socks in the direction of the Yews under the kitchen window. Heidi never bothered to let me know the socks were there as she would walk past them almost every day as she headed to the front yard from behind the Yews.

After only two hours of light exercise, just picking up stuff and raking ... my shirt was soaked. Due to the sun's reflection on the iPhone screen I had to take the picture from this angle to keep my shadow out of the picture. If I rotated the picture right side up, the shirt and picture were at a weird angle.

Stella did 'breakout' of the house. After not doing it for many months, she lifted the door lever with her nose and was standing right next to me as I raked the last of the flowerbed. What a surprise that was. I guess watching me through the window was not good enough ... she had to be involved LOL.

I am not sure it it will look good but I am thinking of running solid boxwood hedges, cut 4-5' tall across the front of my carport to hide the cars. Then from the corners of the house to the porch on both sides of the porch ... use the Azaleas's as end pieces, maybe one or two in the middle ... then fill in with Hostas, Lilies and potted annuals with different colors.

The local landscaping business only had Lillies, Azaleas and some annuals today. I realize at least that this is not the best time of year for new landscaping projects. I have other places to check out 25 miles away.

Our second walk of the day may not take place until tonight just as the sun goes down around 9pm. The hounds were "yelling" for lunch when I finished my 2 hour yard work at 11:15am. Heidi was barking non-stop, Stella was howling, Sadie just hopping around .... ALL wanting their lunch.

Then a MINUTE after they finished eating, I started to take them outside but noticed all three hounds were sound to sleep within a foot or two of their food bowls. All was well with them ... food and sleep.

Thanks for all the emails, comments, pictures and links to help with landscaping the front of the house. If flowers were sports related I would know what to do ... but I never have answers when it comes to what or where in landscaping.

Off to make a new 3qt pitcher of ice tea ... those pitchers of ice tea are not lasting long right now.

Typical hot weather this time of year in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

The Japanese Yews Are Pulled Out By Mistake !!

It started like any other morning, except for a couple of changes. The hounds had their walk at the normal time but I was headed to Bloomington to buy some dog shampoo for Stella and an Epson printer ribbon for me. Little did I know what a shock I would have when I returned from my trip ... Not until I returned and pulled into the driveway did I see that the Yews were in the process of being pulled out of the ground and taken away !!!

I'll include the photos of the hounds from this morning's walk but this story about the yews may be too long to wait until after the hounds pictures to start what you are waiting to read about.

I've mentioned as recently as last Saturday of having the landscaping business bring up their small John Deere tractor with a bucket/backhoe and pull out, then take away the Japanese Yews in front of my house. I've discussed the 'why's in past posts so I'll not talk about the reasons for doing this.

I was not even finished trimming the Yews on Saturday where I had to pull out my pruning shears to cut through thicker stems. My electric clippers could no longer cut through some of the stems, for the first time ever.

I knew then as time went on there would be more stems becoming thicker and the ones I trimmed would be thicker the next time I attempted to trim them. So I made arrangements to have the local landscaping business to pull them out and take them away.

I continued to cut them back on Saturday so I could see what they looked like 18" shorter. I liked the shorter look ... SO I CALLED the landscaping business to let them know to CANCEL my request. The owner, who I had talked to 30 minutes earlier, had gone to lunch. I left a detailed message with the boy at the desk to pass the information to the owner about CANCELING THE REQUEST.

(Ed ... this is the grass that collects the morning dew ... no thistles)

I guess I should have called back and talked to the owner later just to confirm but when he didn't show up later that afternoon, nor Sunday or Monday I just assumed he had received the message to cancel my request. In fact by Monday afternoon I had not thought about it at all until I saw the owner drive by the house after he closed for the day.

This morning after I had picked up the printer ribbon and hound shampoo, I had planned to waste another hour then eat some pizza for lunch.  One of my favorite on campus pizza restaurants had opened a new location on 'my side' of town.

Something ... made me change my mind and head home then instead of later, after having pizza.

I had to take a photo of Stella at the end of the walk this morning because she NEVER gets to the yard before I do. Evidently it was too hot and she had enough fun and wanted to get back inside with the AC on.

Sadie gave me a look as if she was wondering what is taking me so long to get back to the house. She is also hot at 8:30am and wanted to get back inside with the AC on.

Now one good thing about this "yew story", by Sunday night I had changed my mind again and decided these yews were only going to keep trying to get taller which would mean I would have to spend more time keeping them trimmed back ... still not knowing for sure if their roots could damage my septic tank in future years.

I wanted them pulled out and removed.

I figured I would call the landscape owner in the fall when temps were cooler and have them pulled out then.

So it was quite a shock as I pulled into the driveway this morning to see they had already dug 3 of them out and was gone taking one of them to his property so they would not be a fire hazard on my property.

He wasn't sure how deep they were so he dug them out with his small backhoe. Luckily they were not that deep into the ground, so the others he could put a chain around their base and pull them out using his front tractor bucket and take them away all in one trip.

It looks like I have moved some work to the top of my priority list. I'll only work on those remaining roots before noon each day, fill in the holes with dirt, and put down more mulch. Then to add some color I'll plant different annuals but any small shrubs I decide to buy will be in pots sitting on the ground.

I'll leave the area bordered in as is and will lay some more stepping stones from the driveway to the front porch steps to make a sidewalk, even though the front door is never used. At least it will look better since the steps point that direction.

I had decided before I decided to pull any of these out, that I would have all of them pulled out. They would not look good just leaving one side of the porch full of yews and the other side empty. The tall one had to be removed because it was beginning to take a weird unattractive look as I trimmed it around two different satellite dishes to keep the shrub out of their 'line of sight'.

It was good that all the Directv cables went directly from the mounted dish into the foundation to under the house and not underground. He did not have to worry about pulling up any cable wire when he pulled the yew out of the ground.

You can see the area that lets me get into the crawl space of my house. It's not really a 'crawl' space but a huge 'moon crater' where you can almost walk standing up under the whole house. I need to get under there to inspect some things.

Once again I will put some large potted plants in this area to hide the culvert and as much of the Directv dish as possible. Maybe I can move outside the box and agree that all flowerbeds do NOT have to be level, then cover that culver with some added mulch. I'll plant some annuals and cover the rest with mulch.

I don't like having the Directv dish right there in the open and mounted to the house but it's only for it's survival and my sanity. Years prior, the satellite dish was mounted to a pole in the front yard to get a clear southern view it required. Yet, every few years straight line winds, high wind storms and possible tornados would destroy the Directv dish mounted on a pole in the middle of the front yard. So far so good in this location after 9 years of storms.

It's quite a hole to fill back in but the landscape owner will bring a tractor bucket full of dirt for me to use where all 6 yews were planted.

It does look quite different. I'll not want it to look this way long, so I have work to do whether I wanted it or not. Only between the hours of 8am - 11am.

With Sadie and Stella shut off in the bedroom while I was gone, they heard all the noise outside but was not let out to inspect until he was completely finished and gone. Heidi will be lost without her Yews to hide behind in the winter or bad weather when she relieves herself.

The house is back to looking too naked. I need some ideas from all of you plant and landscaping experts. I want to get the new changes implemented as soon as possible. I need color and plants/flowers that require minimum maintenance.

I will be looking at different landscaping ideas again. I'm never able to make up my mind on what to do with things like that. That was one reason I planted the yews ... it was easy.